Pokemon Movie Detective Pikachu Adds Justice Smith as Lead

The long anticipated Pokémon live-action picture, Detective Pikachu, continues to move forward, and it has found its lead actor in Justice Smith. And if you forgot there is a live-action Pokémon movie coming, then get ready. Because we’re going to need a bigger Poké Ball to catch ’em all.

The news of Smith’s casting comes via Variety, which broke late Thursday that the Get Down star has been tapped to take the lead human role in Legendary’s adaptaion of the “catch ’em all” media empire that revolves around Pocket Monsters. Currently, Smith is best known for his role in Baz Luhrmann’s Get Down series, which was not picked up for a second season. But Smith made an impression and has since been cast in J.A. Bayona’s Jurassic World: Forgotten Kingdom, which is due out next year.

Detective Pikachu is being helmed by Rob Letterman, who is best known for adapting R.L. Stine’s ’90s kid nostalgia pic, Goosebumps, for Sony. Turning that into an all-ages comedy did wonders for the studio, and a sequel is expected to be on the way.

Legendary bought the international Pokémon movie rights in summer 2016 and has slowly been putting this movie together. It will also be produced through Universal Pictures who will distribute the film in the U.S. and most international markets, albeit Toho Co, Ltd., the movie studio behind all the animated Pokémon movies, will maintain the Japanese rights to the brand.

Nicole Perlman (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Alex Hirsch (Gravity Falls) wrote the script for Detective Pikachu.